1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure and method for installation of an overhead-type air conditioning unit for a vehicle, and especially relates to the art to improve the comfort of a passenger component and to improve the operability of the installation.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11-117233, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a vehicle such as what is termed a one-box car or a limousine, there is a case that an air conditioning unit exclusively used for the rear seats, which consists of a second line or second and third lines of seats of the vehicle, is installed. This air conditioning unit is mainly mounted on the ceiling of the passenger compartment as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and is generally called an overhead-type air conditioning unit.
The conventional overhead-type air conditioning unit is briefly explained as follows with FIGS. 4 and 5.
FIG. 4 shows an example of the overhead-type air conditioning unit (hereafter, called "a rear air conditioning unit") which is installed in the one-box car. Reference number 1 in these figures denotes the rear air conditioning unit, reference number 2 denotes a front air conditioning unit, reference number 3 denotes a compressor, reference number 4 denotes a condenser, and reference number 5 denotes a side condenser. In this unit, compressed coolant which is compressed by the compressor 3 and has high temperature and high pressure, is cooled by the condenser 4 and side condenser 5, and is supplied to the rear air conditioning unit 1 and the front air conditioning unit 2.
FIG. 5 shows the rear air conditioning unit 1 mounted on the ceiling of the passenger compartment and is shown from the rear side of the passenger compartment. The rear air conditioning unit 1 is fastened on a body constructing member 7 by brackets 6 at both ends. In practice, for preventing the exposure of the installing members such as the brackets 6, a treatment such as covering these members with appropriate covering members 8 are performed as shown in FIG. 6. Furthermore, in FIG. 6, reference number 9 denote drain hoses and reference number 10 denote coolant pipes.
In the above-mentioned rear air conditioning unit 1, the installing structure is required to secure as much headroom as possible because the unit is mounted on the ceiling of the passenger compartment. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, improvements such as installing the unit between two reinforcement members 12 which project towards the inner side of a roof panel 11 and extend along the width direction, are usually carried out to set the unit at the highest position as possible.
However, the installation operation of the oblong rear air conditioning unit must be performed in a restricted space in the passenger compartment, and installation of the unit by oneself is not easy. Therefore, in the conventional installation method, the rear air conditioning unit is lifted between the reinforcement members 12 by two persons and fastened by bolting or the like.
Meanwhile, to perform the installation operation easily by oneself, an installation method in which mounting the unit on the brackets fastened to both ends of the body, and sliding the mounted unit to the front or rear sides, is conceivable. However, in practice, the sliding operation is prevented by the interference between the unit and the reinforcement mers 12. Therefore, the unit cannot be placed between the reinforcement members 12, and there is a problem that the amount of the unit projecting from the ceiling is increased.
The present invention is provided in compliance with the above circumstances, and the purpose of the present invention is to provide the structure and method to improve the comfortability of the passenger compartment by raising the installation position of the overhead-type rear air conditioning unit, and to improve the operability of the installation.